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Federal authorities and Butler Township police are investigating after an explosive device was placed inside a mailbox and detonated, according to police. >> Read more trending news The explosive device, which police believe was a commercial-grade firework, was detonated and destroyed the mailbox sometime between 7 p.m. Tuesday and 9 a.m. Wednesday, Butler Township Police Chief John Porter said in a media release. Police did not say what road the incident occurred on but described the area as a rural part of the township. “Since tampering with a mailbox is covered under federal law, federal authorities have been notified and are participating with us in a joint investigation,” Porter said. “Our initial investigation shows there is no indication of any type of hate or bias crime at this time.” Authorities continue to investigate.

The sister of a Minnesota woman accused of killing a stranger to steal her identity in Florida last year is now facing criminal charges of her own after investigators say she grew angry at her intoxicated son and ran him over with her SUV. Cynthia Lea Grund, 58, of Salem Township, was jailed on suspicion of second-degree assault and reckless driving. Olmstead County Jail records indicate she has since been released. >> Read more trending news Olmstead County deputies were called Monday evening to Grund’s home, where they found her 37-year-old son, identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune as Jason Finstad, suffering from significant lower body injuries, a Sheriff’s Office news release said. The man had been run over by a vehicle. Investigators determined that Grund had run over her son with a 2004 Ford Explorer, the news release said. According to detectives, Finstad was very intoxicated when he began walking down the rural driveway to go to a friend’s house. His mother and stepfather no longer wanted him staying at their home. Grund drove down the driveway to pick Finstad up and drive him to the friend’s house, the news release said. Finstad refused to get in the SUV. “Why don’t you just run me over,” he allegedly said before lying in the driveway in front of Grund’s vehicle. “Grund then backed the vehicle up and intentionally ran over the victim,” the news release said. “Grund admitted to her actions and at one point made a comment to the effect, ‘He didn't believe I would. He has been drinking all day. We gave him a chance.’” Grund was taken into custody at the scene. >> Related story: ‘Losing Streak Lois,’ killer grandma wanted in 2 slayings nabbed near U.S.-Mexico border Finstad underwent surgery at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester to repair damage to his pelvis. He also suffered head injuries in the incident, investigators said. He was in fair condition as of Tuesday, the Star Tribune reported. According to the newspaper, Grund is the sister of Lois Ann Riess, 57, of Blooming Prairie, who is being held in Florida on a charge of first-degree murder in the April 5 slaying of Pamela Hutchinson, 59, of Bradenton. Riess was arrested April 19 on Texas’ South Padre Island after a multistate string of crimes that investigators allege began with the shooting death of her husband, David Riess, 54, at their worm farm. Saturday will mark a year since David Riess’ decomposing body was found. Authorities said David Riess had been dead for several days by the time his body was discovered. The Star Tribune reported last month that a .22-caliber semi-automatic handgun found in Lois Riess’ Texas motel room matched shell casings found at the scene of her husband’s death. Dodge County investigators have turned their case over to the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office for review. Lois Riess, who authorities nicknamed “Losing Streak Lois” for her penchant for gambling, fled south to Florida -- stopping at a casino on the way. Riess’ abandoned Cadillac Escalade, which Minnesota investigators alleged she left the state in after gunning down her husband, was found in a park in Fort Myers, Florida. Surveillance footage from a restaurant two blocks from Hutchinson’s borrowed timeshare condo showed the victim chatting with Riess at the bar on April 5, the day authorities believe she was shot to death. Hutchinson’s body was found four days later in the bathroom of the condo. See the footage of Lois Riess chatting with Pamela Hutchinson below, courtesy of the Fort Myers News-Press. Investigators believe Hutchinson was killed so Riess could assume her identity. They also believe Hutchinson was shot with the same gun that killed David Riess. According to Riess’ Florida indictment, Lois Riess stole credit cards, money, jewelry, sunglasses and other property from Hutchinson after she was killed. Surveillance footage from Hutchinson’s condo complex showed Riess walking into the parking lot, getting into Hutchinson’s Acura TL and driving away. The indictment also alleged that Riess went to a Fort Myers bank and used Hutchinson’s identification to withdraw $5,000 from the dead woman’s account before leaving town. Riess was next spotted the following day at an Ocala Hilton hotel, where she used Hutchinson’s identification to check into a room, Lee County officials said. She stayed there the nights of April 6 and 7, according to investigators. Surveillance footage from inside and outside the hotel showed both Riess and the stolen Acura. According to the News-Press, a white straw hat Riess wore in the footage belonged to Hutchinson. While in Ocala, Riess is accused of withdrawing another $500 from Hutchinson’s bank account. From there, Riess is accused of making her way west across the southeastern U.S., making several stops in Louisiana -- including at another casino -- before being seen driving the Acura around Corpus Christi, Texas. She attempted to get $200 from Hutchinson’s account at a gas station, but the effort failed, the News-Press reported. Riess used her own ID to claim a $1,500 jackpot at a Louisiana casino, the newspaper reported. Riess remained at large until April 19, when she was arrested on South Padre Island in Texas. Dodge County Sheriff Scott Rose said a man recognized Riess when she walked into a restaurant on the island, located about 25 miles from the Mexican border, and looked at a menu. Riess did not stay to eat at the restaurant, identified as Dirty Al’s Seafood, but the man called police to report the sighting. A South Padre Island police officer and a federal marshal responded to the area and spotted the white Acura that had been stolen from Hutchinson at another nearby restaurant, the Sea Ranch. Riess was taken into custody as she sat at the bar inside, eating a meal and chatting with fellow patrons. She was subsequently extradited back to Florida to face charges in Hutchinson’s homicide. Riess was indicted June 6 in the case, according to court records. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in Hutchinson’s slaying.

Police announced Thursday a plan to re-test evidence from decades-old child murder cases that rocked Atlanta in the late '70s and early '80s. >> Read more trending news Mayor Kiesha Lance Bottoms and police Chief Erika Shields made the announcement Thursday at a news conference. From 1979 to 1981, at least 25 young black men and children were killed in areas around Memorial Drive. Bottoms said she remembered hearing about the horrific crimes as a 9-year-old, and felt robbed of an innocent childhood as a result. “It may be there is nothing left it be tested,” Bottoms said. “But I do think history will judge us by our actions and we will be able to say we tried.” The operation will be a joint one, with authorities from the Atlanta Police Department, Fulton County and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation using modern technology in examining the evidence. Bottoms started thinking about taking a renewed look into the murders after speaking with the mother of one of the victims. Applying modern technology to the crimes of 1979 to 1981, she said, will assure the families that “we have done all that we can do do to make sure their memories are not forgotten and, in the truest sense of the word, to let the world know that black lives do matter.” Authorities have for decades suspected Atlanta native Wayne Williams was the killer who terrorized the city. He is serving life for murder convictions in the deaths of two adults in Fulton County, though he’s never faced charges in any child’s death. After his conviction, authorities in Fulton, where the vast majority of deaths occurred, announced they were closing the child homicides case because they were convinced Williams was guilty. Five cases from the same period are open today in DeKalb County because of disagreements through the years among various officials about whether the deaths should be attributed to Williams. DeKalb police told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in late 2017 that the investigations were inactive. Some of the victims’ relatives have questioned whether officials rushed to judgement by suggesting Williams was guilty in all the murders. Williams, who was a cocky young freelance photographer at the time of his arrest in 1981, has long maintained his innocence. Thursday’s announcement comes at the same time as a media blitz around filmmaker Will Packer’s forthcoming documentary on the cases, which is soon to air on the Investigation Discovery Channel.

A pair of Boeing 737 Max 8 jets that crashed shortly after takeoff in recent months from Indonesia and Ethiopia lacked two key safety features because they were considered optional extras, The New York Times reported Thursday. >> Read more trending news Authorities continue to investigate the causes of the Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashes, but similarities between the disasters pointed to possible issues with the planes’ stall-prevention systems, called MCAS, according to The Wall Street Journal. The software system can, in some circumstances, point the nose of the plane down to avoid an aerodynamic stall, The Associated Press reported. >> Boeing 737 Max 8: Transportation secretary asks for review of FAA certification A pair of optional Boeing safety features might have helped pilots determine if the system was giving erroneous readings and pushing the nose of the plane down without cause, the Times reported. One of the optional upgrades would have displayed readings from the plane’s sensors while the other, called a disagree light, would have been activated if the sensors were pulling conflicting information, according to the Times. Boeing officials plan to make the disagree light a standard feature on all new 737 Max planes, the Times reported, citing an unidentified source. The sensor reading display will remain optional. >> Ethiopian Airlines crash: Captain reported issues shortly after takeoff Neither feature has been mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to the Times. Boeing officials are expected to complete a software update to 737 Max anti-stall systems by Monday, according to the AP. Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration are expected to certify the company’s changes and its plans to train pilots on the system within the next two months, the AP reported. >> Photos: Ethiopian Airlines crash kills 157, including 8 Americans The Journal previously reported the update had been planned in the wake of October’s Lion Air crash, but work was stalled by disagreements over technical and engineering issues between Boeing and FAA officials. The update was also set back by the five-week government shutdown sparked in December by President Donald Trump’s demand for funding to build his border wall, according to the Journal. Lion Air Flight 610 crashed in October shortly after takeoff from Jakarta, Indonesia, killing 189 people. Less than five months later, on March 10, Ethiopian Air Flight 302 crashed shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing 157 people. >> Lion Air jet with 189 on board crashes in sea off Indonesia; no survivors expected As investigations into the crashes continue, authorities worldwide have grounded Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

Three men have been identified following the theft of a claw machine from a Walmart on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. St. Johns County Deputies say on March 12th, a repair man arrived to service the claw machine at the store when he noticed it was missing. A Walmart employee told Deputies that someone called the store and said they were picking up the broken claw machine for repairs. They reviewed surveillance video, and Deputies said three people were seen taking the machine. They were not repairmen. The legitimate repairman told Deputes that a similar incident happened in Gainesville. The men were seen driving an older, white Ford F-150.

Gorsuch navigates full day of testimony as Senate battle percolates

Posted: 10:26 pm Tuesday, March 21st, 2017

By Jamie Dupree

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch vowed to uphold the law if confirmed to the nation’s highest court, not tipping his hand as he sidestepped controversial political subjects, as Gorsuch directly pushed back against President Donald Trump’s criticism of federal judges.

“When anyone criticizes the honesty or integrity, the motives of a federal judge, I find that disheartening; I find that demoralizing,” Gorsuch said in response to questions from Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).

“Anyone including the President of the United States?” Blumenthal pressed.

“Anyone is anyone,” Gorsuch replied.

In a day of testimony that stretched for almost twelve hours, Gorsuch parried most questions from Democrats, who tried in vain to get him to reveal his views on issues like abortion, and items that might come before the Supreme Court, like President Trump’s travel ban.

Gorsuch repeatedly refused to take the bait.

“I can’t get involved in politics, and I think it would be very imprudent of judges to start commenting on political disputes,” Gorsuch said.

Under questioning from Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Gorsuch was asked what he had discussed with President Trump on the issue of abortion.

“In that interview did he ever ask you to overrule Roe v Wade?” Graham asked.

“No, Senator,” Gorsuch replied, adding that if the President had asked that question, “I would have walked out the door.”

Gorsuch was pressed about the President in a number of different ways, telling Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) that, “nobody is above the law in this country, and that includes the President of the United States.”

With Republicans strongly in support of Gorsuch, there was already maneuvering behind the scenes over the expected floor fight in the Senate, as Democrats have made clear they think the GOP should be forced to get 60 votes for his nomination.

That has prompted GOP leaders to criticize the threat of a filibuster.

“If there aren’t 60 votes for a nominee like Neil Gorsuch it’s appropriate to ask the question is there any nominee any Republican president could make that Democrats would approve,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Gorsuch’s lengthy day of testimony ended on a light note, as Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) suggested to Gorsuch that he have a cocktail before bed.